I asked people on my Instagram if they had questions about training camp, here are the answers!!!
How is sleeping in a hammock?
– Sleeping in a hammock is AMAZING! So much easier to set up and take down than a tent and it’s super comfy too! One night I was sleeping in my hammock and it started raining and I threw my tent rainfly over my hammock to keep dry haha. Not ideal, but it worked!
Thoughts on my team
– TEAM JOY really lives up to their name!! There are 5 other girls in my team and they are absolutely stunning, marvelous, and spectacular! We have already been able to be super vulnerable with each other and have been able to encourage one another! We all con from different states, churches, families, backgrounds, but I know God hand picked this team and I can’t wait to do life with them for nine months!! Everyone brings something unique to the table, whether it’s leadership, humor, a gentle spirit, biblical knowledge, or a gorgeous smile, these girls are THE BEST!! (I will probably be making a video introducing my team in September, so stay tuned!!
Fav challenge that I’ve been faced with
– My favorite simulation challenge was when they told us that half of us “lost our luggage” so we had to share with a squad mates! So that night, Liz and I slept in the same tent and it was super fun to talk and just hang out together.
– My favorite spiritual challenge that I have been faced with is trying to be humble. I have always had an issue with pride and I have come to fully accept that his week. Bought God doesn’t want us to be prideful and I wish I wasn’t, I am. And I have to deal with that. Though being humbled is hard, I know it is bringing me closer to Christ, I’m very excited for that!!
What things have I learned about different cultures?
– You have to have your knees and ankles covered in India and Africa
– In Africa, men hold hands to show friendship
-In India, people eat with their hands, and ONLY their right hand besucase the left hand is considered unclean (they use hay hand to go to the bathroom)
– In India, women must have their heads covered at meals and in meetings
-In villages, women must have their shoulders covered
-It is common in Nepal and India to have temples where Hindu, and Buddhist people come to worship their god’s
-Is it just your group, or basically everyone going on the gap year?
-So my squad of 47 people that I will be traveling from country to country with was at training camp. We are route 5 (Swaziland, India, Nepal, and Guatemala). I mostly only interacted and got to know my squad and training camp, but all 6 routes that are launching this September for the World Race Gap Year where also at training camp.
How are the bucket showers?
-Bucket showers aren’t my favorite thing, but definitely not the worst way to take a shower. For those of you who don’t know, a bucket shower is where you fill up a bucket (like one you would get from Home Depot) with water and then you also have a small measuring cup like bowl that you use to scoop the water out of the big bucket and hen dump the cold water on yourself. These are the showers we took for the 10 days at training camp.
Favorite moment so far?
-I think my favorite memory has to be dancing to church clap with my squad!!
How long is training camp for?
-I was gone for 10 days, July 10-20
What’s the hardest part about training camp for you?
-I have never felt such intense spiritual warfare. Satan was trying to hard all week to put doubts in my mind and tried to keep telling me lies about my identity, my worth, and how I shouldn’t be going on this gap year. However, I didn’t fight Satan alone, the Holy Spirit was right there next to me reminding me that I am a daughter of the most high king, that I am capable through Jesus’ name, and that going around the world spreading Jesus is what we are called to do (Matthew 18:19-20) and therefore I must obey him!!
What’s it like? What do you do?
-We live in tents, take bucket showers, and use portapoties
– Most of the day includes sessions that are about strengthening our faith, how to do ministry/share our fatih, things we have to know going into the field, cultural differences, and logictiscal stuff. The sessions were sometimes 3 hours long, but almod never boring. God spoke so clearly through so many people at TC and it was so amazing to be so challenged iny faith!
-Everyday was a different county or part of the world and we had to abide by the dress code of that country or place!
-We had a lot of processing time to talk through things with our teams as we were learning so much in a very short amount of time, though it was overwhelming, it was all real great stuff!!
– We had a different simulation everyday, for example one day half of the team “lost their pack” so we had to share. Another day we had a “12 hour lay over” so we slept inside (yay for aircondiiting) and the lights were on all night, as well as airport announcements and sounds. We had many other simulations that were fun and challenged us to get used to being uncomfortable. All the simulations were things that could very easily occur when we are on the race, so it was fun to get a lil taste of my life for the next nine months!
If you have more questions about Training camp, please leave them below in the comments!!! I’m hoping to do a whole blog on some Of the stuff God taught me while at TC (training camp)!
